Research and development of taste sensors as a novel analytical tool

Gustatory and olfactory receptors receive multiple chemical substances of different types simultaneously, but they can barely discriminate one chemical species from others. In this article, we describe a device used to measure taste, i.e., taste sensors. Toko and colleagues developed a taste sensor equipped with multiarray electrodes using a lipid/polymer membrane as the transducer in 1989. This sensor has a concept of global selectivity to decompose the characteristics of a chemical substance into taste qualities and to quantify them. The use of taste sensors has spread around the world. More than 600 examples of taste-sensing system have been used, while providing the first “taste scale” in the world. This article explains the principle of taste sensors and their application to foods and medicines, and also a novel type of taste sensor using allostery. Taste-sensor technology, the underlying principle of which is different from that of conventional analytical instruments, markedly affects many aspects including social economy as well as the food industry.